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Ellis English 1 Pre-AP 10 February 2013 The Caged Bird Sings of Freedom Maya Angelous PoetryA Story of Struggles and Endurance Maya Angelou once said, You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Even in her quotes and statements, Angelou revisits a trope of perseverance that is common throughout all of her works. A recurring motif in Angelous poetry centers around an idea of persistence, perseverance, and the desire for something better, which replicates the emotions she felt being raped as a child, raising her son as a single mother, and working in the Civil Rights Movement alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. The adversity Maya Angelou faced and endured reappears throughout her poetry in the form of hope and empowerment. Angelou describes herself as the dream and the hope of the slave (Still I Rise 40) and that despite barriers still Ill rise (Still I Rise 12).The age-old struggle and conflict which makes up Angelous heritage is slavery, and in this poem she asserts that the dreams of slaves will be fulfilled. Quite blatantly, Angelou incorporates the motif of ambition and desire by adding Ill rise which affirms that all obstacles are surpassable. At President Clintons inauguration, Angelou delivered a poem, On the Pulse of the Morning, where she beckons the nation to look to the horizon (90) that offers space [for] change (91). The connotation of horizon suggests that there is a silver lining after night or darkness which could symbolize struggles and the adversity that Angelou faced in her past. A space for

Banner 2 change yet again implies that there is a method for bettering yourself or, in the context of this poem, a nation. In A Plagued Journey, the narrator says I am forcedto mount the light and ride with Hope (Angelou 26). The line mount the light, depicts light as empowerment and grit similar to those sentiments Angelou expresses in so many of her poems. The narrator also rides with hope which very conspicuously suggests that after hardships, one must persevere. Angelous poetry frequently revisits the topic of endurance, a motif that mimics her own life and experiences growing up. When Angelous personal experiences such as her rape are examined, one can understand the origin of common motifs in her poetry. As a child, Angelou grew up in Stamps, Arkansas where she lived in a world whose boundaries were set by whites (L. Bloom) and learned that blacks would not only endure, but prevail (L. Bloom). The general environment in which Angelou was raiseda small Southern towncaused her to learn life lessons which would influence her in the future. Angelous childhood was constantly restricted by those boundaries set by people who looked down upon her, but it was these experiences that drove Angelou to repeatedly write about prevailing and endurance. When Angelou was young, she was raped by her mothers boyfriend, and after his murder she became mute but developed a love for language (Maya Angelou The Poetry Foundation). An event as dramatic as rapture affected Angelou severely and it wasnt until she met a teacher named Mrs. Flowers who was the force that drove Angelou to surpass the barrier that was her rape and becoming mute. Angelous rape as a young girl, left an incredible impact on her, and the subsequent muteness resulted in her desire to write and express herself through words. After giving birth to her son at age 17, Angelou, a single mother, supported her son by becoming San Franciscos first female and black street conductor (Maya Angelou Biography) and began to tour with a production of

Banner 3 the opera Porgy and Bess (Maya Angelou The Poetry Foundation). Even at the age of 17, Angelou was already becoming a pioneer as an African-American woman who was succeeding despite the burden that a son must have been, whether in the city or exploring the arts. The birth of Angelous son was a responsibility that symbolized a struggle Angelou had to surpass, and she didwhich reiterated the endurance despite defeat that she so often writes about. Angelous personal experiences prepared a foundation, carrying all the life lessons she had learned as she progressed to her social interactions, which further developed the motif of persistence and determination seen so often in her poetry. In Angelous social encountersparticularly in the Civil Rights Movementa theme of empowerment emerges and is later reflected in her poetry. As a young woman, Angelou became a civil rights activist, working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and in 1964, helped Malcolm X build the Organization of African American Unity (Maya Angelou Biography). The news and ideas that dominated Angelous time were about the Civil Rights Movement and the surge for equal rights among all people; Angelou was very involved in this ideological movement whose beliefs are consistent with the principles Angelou was exposed to as a young girl. The Civil Rights Movement embodied Angelous emotions, which she ultimately expressed in her poetry through the motif of persistence. In her lifetime, Angelou was named the Northern coordinator of Martin Luther King Jr.s Southern Christian Leadership Conference and designated a member of the Commission of International Womens Year (Maya Angelou Contemporary Poets) by President Jimmy Carter. With the attention the Civil Rights Movement and its protagonists received and the nobility of a President, recognition as a coordinator under Martin Luther King Jr. or a designation as a member of an exclusive group such as the Commission of International Women by a president was incredibly praised.

Banner 4 Angelous awards and recognitions are evidence of the rewards that come from perseverance, and this describes why Angelou writes about the quality of endurance so frequently. By 1975, with her colorful background and role as a female pioneer, Angelou became recognized as a spokespersonfor all people (H. Bloom) committed to raising the moral standards of living (H. Bloom). Angelou represented a pioneer in countless fields: drama, street conducting, singing, and writing, and after her climax she was recognized as such by multiple critics who described her as driven by morals. Spokespeople are dedicated to bettering lifestyles, and Angelou was no different, she promoted an ideal of patience to those around her because she had followed it and reaped the rewards. Maya Angelou was a very active member of her community and faithfully defended others rights even though there was a fierce opposition, but all of her experiences together make her the person and writer she is todayone who stands by the idea of persistence. In life, we experience defeats such as those Angelou mentions in her quote, but it is the surpassing of these struggles that makes a person who they are, and this idea appears again and again in Angelous works. The motif Angelou uses in so many of her writings of determination is a direct reflection of her difficult childhood and struggle for equality in the Civil Rights Movement. Maya Angelous story and poetry is a testament to what people can accomplish when they truly persist, when they persevere in the face of adversity, and that when they truly want somethingno defeat is too large.

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Works Cited Angelou, Maya. The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. New York: Random House, 1994. Print. Bloom, Harold. Maya Angelou. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2009. Print. Bloom, Lynn Z. "Maya Angelou". Afro-American Writers After 1955: Dramatists and Prose Writers. Ed. Thadious M. Davis and Trudier Harris-Lopez. Detroit: Gale Research, 1985. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 38. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 February 2013. "Maya Angelou - Biography." Maya Angelou - Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. "Maya Angelou". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit. Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 February 2013. "Maya Angelou". Contemporary Poets. Gale, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 February 2013. "Maya Angelou." The Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2013.